Josh Dion @ stephan's basement - "part 4"
Josh Dion @ stephan's basement
A project by musig im pflegidach, powered by MURIKULTUR, Muri, Switzerland.
Stephan’s Basement presents the leading drummers of our time, each performing a short, but profound solo in Stephan Diethelm’s rehearsal room in Muri, Switzerland.
The podcasts, as work in progress, will create an expanding archive of modern drumming in all its fascinating diversity. Watch and listen!
live recorded 25. November 2024
- drums - Josh Dion
- sound - Simon Huber
- gimbal - Niclas Hofstetter & Samuel Bitz
- editing & concept - Stephan Diethelm
with the support of the Josef Müller Stiftung, Bundesamt für Kultur, Kanton Aargau, and Ernst Göhner Stiftung.
Compact storytelling
Some pianists are notorious for their sing-along style, which can make listening more difficult. On certain live recordings, Eroll Garner's grunts or Keith Jarrett's groans became the inevitable accompanying music.
- Singing along to percussion instruments, on the other hand, is difficult. Even Max Roach, famous for his melodic style, would have had a hard time doing that.
- But when, as with Josh Dion, the human voice and the drum set come across as a unio mystica, a pair of opposites collide: the percussive and the vocal articulation have the same epicenter.
This is not entirely new. Singing drummers are not uncommon, especially in rock music - think of Robert Wyatt or Phil Collins. This is also due to the fact that both the human organ and the drum are media of vibration.
The pulse and the voice embody the elemental forces of music.
- And so Josh Dion's playing style is decidedly musical.
- He takes advantage of the opportunity to play rubato, as he doesn't have to worry about synchronicity with a band.
- His performance is ready to jump, lively and full of variation.
In his one-man band, the impulses between the vocals and the percussion echo into one another. The elegiac and the gripping dance around each other in Muhammad Ali style, but the vocal quality always leads back to song structures and ensures that the comments of the virtuoso sticks do not lose focus.
Josh Dion thus creates both: the vocals and the framework on which they hang.
Kompaktes Storytelling
Einige Pianisten sind berüchtigt für ihr Sing-along, was den Hörgenuss erschweren kann. Auf gewissen Live-Aufnahmen wurden Eroll Garners Grunzen oder Keith Jarretts Stöhnen zur unvermeidlichen Begleitmusik.
- Beim Spiel von Schlaginstrumenten mitzusingen, fällt dagegen schwer. Selbst Max Roach, berühmt für seinen melodischen Stil, hätte sich da schwergetan.
- Wenn aber, so wie bei Josh Dion, die menschliche Stimme und das Drumset als Unio mystica daherkommen, fällt ein Gegensatzpaar ineins: Das Perkussive und die stimmliche Artikulation haben das selbe Epizentrum.
Ganz neu ist das nicht. Gerade im Rock sind singende Schlagzeuger keine Seltenheit, man denke an Robert Wyatt oder Phil Collins. Das hängt auch damit zusammen, dass sowohl das menschliche Organ wie die Trommel Medien der Erschütterung sind.
The pulse and the voice embody the elemental forces of music.
- And so Josh Dion's playing style is decidedly musical.
- He takes advantage of the opportunity to play rubato, as he doesn't have to worry about synchronicity with a band.
- His performance is ready to jump, lively and full of variation.
In his one-man band, the impulses between the vocals and the percussion echo into one another. The elegiac and the gripping dance around each other in Muhammad Ali style, but the vocal quality always leads back to song structures and ensures that the comments of the virtuoso sticks do not lose focus.
Josh Dion thus creates both: the vocals and the framework on which they hang.
Kompakter geht Storytelling nicht.
Text by Michel Mettler, (Translated by Google)